Day Fourteen......

Looking for Elderado

Today we went for a drive around the gemfields and wow! what an eyeopener as to how some people are prepared to eek out a living with the hope of finding that elusive 'BIG ONE'.

We discovered that Archibald John Richardson is the man responsible for this fever.

Wherever you look in the gemfield you will see tents, shanties and caravans and people digging holes.

We visited the Blue Hollow Mine where in fact a big one had been found.  The owners told us that it was there ritirement fund and was worth in the vicinity of $300K. 

They are still looking for the big one......

Eileen and I decided to go back to Pats Place and buy a bucket of dirt and see how our luck panned out...

Three buckets later ($8 a bucket) we had this sorry lot to show for our backbreaking toil.   Worth about $2.00 it reminded me about the story of 'How to make a small fortune fossiking for gems'......

Start with a big one......

On the way out after a lovely cup of coffee and a quiet sit in the sun, I spied these lovely sapphires and got them for Eileen.